Kaskaskia Regional Port District

Kaskaskia Regional Port District, a U.S. local government port authority based in Red Bud, Illinois, is a federal grant recipient that has received $15.5 million across six awards from four federal agencies since 2014, focused on inland port infrastructure development and rail freight handling capacity. The district operates exclusively as a prime recipient on grant awards; it holds no federal contracts and places no task orders under government-wide vehicles.

The district's customer base is concentrated across two principal funding agencies: the Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (2 awards) and the Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (2 awards), each accounting for one-third of the award portfolio by count. The Department of Defense Washington Headquarters Service Office of Economic Adjustment and the Delta Regional Authority each account for one award. Recent representative work includes a $10 million Maritime Administration Port Infrastructure Development Program (CFDA 20.823) award issued August 4, 2026, to design and construct rail infrastructure improvements at the Red Bud terminal—comprising cultural resources survey and environmental assessment services, legal support, design oversight, emergency culvert stabilization at Doza Creek bridge abutments, and construction of a new rail yard with two 3,000-foot ladder tracks serving 53 miles of track corridor safety upgrades and maintenance through April 26, 2029. A second Maritime Administration award dated July 11, 2024, funded the purchase of 10 reconditioned shuttle gondola cars and associated costs (50–60 feet long, 120-ton coiled-steel capacity), completing infrastructure expansion to handle 2.25 million tons of new coiled steel cargo. A September 30, 2023, Economic Development Administration Public Works and Economic Development Facilities award supported construction of a second laydown yard at the KRPD 2 terminal, projected to create 50 new jobs and generate $20 million in private investment by January 30, 2027. The district also received a Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment grant dated September 1, 2023, for a pipeline feasibility study between Scott Air Force Base and Fayetteville, Illinois. Only one award (the EDA laydown yard project) faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.